About 150 Taliban stormed a district in western Afghanistan, taking control of the local police headquarters for about an hour before being repelled in a battle in which two insurgents were killed, police said yesterday.
The rebels descended on the capital Bakwa district of western Farah Province late on Wednesday, sparking a three-hour battle, provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib said.
Police retreated from the district for one hour, he said.
"Two Taliban were killed, four Taliban were wounded and two police were also wounded in the three hours of exchange of fire," he said. "Taliban captured the district only for one hour and then we forced them out of the area."
A police convoy was attacked in Farah province mid-afternoon on Wednesday and four policemen and four Taliban were killed in the fighting.
The battle was not far from where unidentified gunmen shot dead a UN driver on Tuesday.
Farah has been relatively quiet compared to the volatile south of Afghanistan where Taliban attacks occur almost daily.
But it is seeing more violence, raising concern that the militants are building up their presence elsewhere in the country.
Meanwhile, Kabul has angrily rejected comments by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that the Taliban had grown more dangerous than al-Qaeda with the support of Afghans, accusing some in Pakistan of sponsoring the rebels.
A Foreign Ministry statement accused Musharraf of reneging on a pledge in Kabul last week to stop playing the blame game over the Taliban, whose rise to power was sponsored by Islamabad.
"He has raised some regrettable and disturbing issues," the ministry said.
"As with before, the Taliban continue to receive support from outside Afghanistan. Such support is the only factor that helps them inflict damage and suffering upon Afghanistan," the statement said.
"There are distinct entities [in Pakistan] which provide motivation, training, equipment, financial support and sanctuary for the Taliban," said the statement, received late on Wednesday.
Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Musharraf said the Taliban were a more dangerous terrorist force than al-Qaeda because of what he said was the broad support they enjoyed among Afghans.
"The center of gravity of terrorism has shifted from al-Qaeda to the Taliban," he said.
"This is a new element, a more dangerous element, because it [the Taliban] has its roots in the people. Al-Qaeda didn't have roots in the people," Musharraf said.
The Taliban have regrouped since their overthrow and Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase since 2001.
The use of Pakistani territory by the Taliban, its al-Qaeda allies and other militants and criminals has soured relations between the two countries, prompting Musharraf to visit Kabul last week to pledge support in an effort to repair relations.
He said both sides must stop playing the blame game.
Some Afghan leaders accuse Islamabad of not doing enough to stop the Taliban, and even of continuing to back them.
Musharraf rejected the criticism.
"No one should blame us or doubt us for not doing enough," he said, adding that Pakistan had deployed 80,000 troops on its side of the border to tackle militant Islamists.
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